On the personal front, it looks like I will be a contributor to a Bull Run related article to run in a national, quarterly journal, and I’ve been asked to lead a specialized bus tour of First Bull Run for a university affiliated institute in 2011. Never being one to count unhatched chickens, I’ll let you know more if and when I’m sure these things are definitely going to happen (true to my glass-half-empty nature, this may be after they’ve occurred).

The other day I was at my local Half Price Books and came across nine bound volumes of Civil War Times Illustrated, ranging from mid-60’s to early-80’s. At $3.98 a pop I couldn’t pass them up. I thought it might be fun to go through them every now and again and pick out bits that might seem interesting or ironic given the passage of time, particularly reviews of books that perhaps have proven to be classics or stinkers, validating or repudiating the reviewer. So keep an eye out for that.

Nice find. I got lucky, almost 20 years ago, when the librarian at my high school called, knowing my CW interest, to ask if I wanted their back run of Civil War Times, which they were getting rid of to make room on the shelves. Turns out they had a nearly complete run, dating back to the beginning. I should get them sorted and bound; as of today, they’re still in my attic, in boxes.

Something happened similar to me. At the middle school I was attending a teacher I knew gave me all of the back issues he had of Civil War Times from the ’70s and ’80s. It’s still great to read those issues and see articles by people like Bearss, etc. William C. Davis was the editor and James I. Robertson was contributing interesting sidebars.

One of my favorite book reviews is Wiley Sword ripping James McDonough’s Shiloh book from 1977. I think there might have been a bit of a conflict of interesting since Sword’s book had just come out in ’74. I like both of their books. It’s amusing to read these reviews many years after the book has been published.

Dulce bellum inexpertis

“I am sending you these little incidents as I hear them well authenticated. They form, to the friends of the parties, part of the history of the glorious 21st. More anon.”

About

Hello! I’m Harry Smeltzer and welcome to Bull Runnings, where you'll find my digital history project on the First Battle of Bull Run which is organized under the Bull Run Resources section. I'll also post my thoughts on the processes behind the project and commentary on the campaign, but pretty much all things Civil War are fair game. You'll only find musings on my “real job” or my personal life when they relate to this project. My mother always told me "never discuss politics or religion in mixed company”, and that's sound advice where current events are concerned.

The Project

This site is more than a blog. Bull Runnings also hosts digitized material pertaining to First Bull Run. In the Bull Run Resources link in the masthead and also listed below are links to Orders of Battle, After Action Reports, Official Correspondence, Biographical Sketches, Diaries, Letters, Memoirs, Newspaper Accounts and much, much more. Take some time to surf through the material. This is a work in process with no end in sight, so check back often!